As Jack approached the cave’s entrance, he thought he could hear noises. Pulling away quickly, he stood with his back tight against the outside wall. Carefully, he craned his neck around the corner to see what was going on.
Inside the cave were five men. Four of them were stashing pickaxes and other tools into a burlap bag, while another man was giving orders.
“Hurry up!” shouted the leader. “We’ve got to get a move on if we’re gonna find that gold!”
The others grunted and cackled with laughter. From what Jack could see, one or two of the men were missing their front teeth.
So, thought Jack, these were the guys. These were the men who had stolen the map from Mr. Garcia’s house. Only thing was, he still couldn’t figure out how they’d done it. Jack wondered whether they had already found something in the cave—something linked to Montezuma’s treasure.
“Gather up that water too!” the leader yelled, still barking commands. “We’ve got a long day ahead. We’re heading south.” One of the men scurried to a corner of the cave and grabbed a few bottles.
So the mysterious men were heading south, but where? Jack hadn’t had a chance to properly study the next clue on the map.
Jack followed the bossy man with his eyes. Until now, he’d had his back turned to Jack, so he hadn’t seen his face.
The man walked to the back of the cave. There on the far wall was what looked like a freshly made hole. The man grabbed a knife from his hip pocket. Using the tip, he picked a small red stone out of the wall. It looked like a ruby. As it came out of the wall, the stone fell into his hand.
Placing the jewel in a small bag clipped to his trousers, the man turned around and returned to his men. As he did, Jack got a good look at him.
The man was wearing red leather boots and dirty clothes. Above his right eye, he was missing an eyebrow.
Throwing his back against the outside wall again, Jack stood there, trying not to move. He couldn’t believe this was happening to him. Jack opened his eyes wide, willing himself to wake up.
But this wasn’t a dream. The man in the cave was none other than Callous Carl, and the men with him were his gang of thieves.